


Bird Nerds

by TheMockingDahila



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Birds, Buddies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 09:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9485441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMockingDahila/pseuds/TheMockingDahila
Summary: Commission for a friend on tumblr. Sniper takes Medic to the Outback and the two of them search for birds.





	

Australia was hot.

No, hot wasn’t the right word. It was scorching! How Sniper had managed to live here for years and not die left Medic stumped. No human could survive in such conditions. It wasn’t just blazing hot, but the land was filled with dangerous animals. Sure, koalas were cute, and kangaroos were adorable but other than that, everything else wanted to kill you! From spiders to snakes, the Outback was crawling with literal monsters!

But here Medic was with the sun beating down on him, wearing a wifebeater and drinking as much water as he could. Sniper looked fine, barely breaking a sweat. The Bushman had his binoculars in hand and was staring at something in the distance. With a grin, he motioned to Medic to join. Sighing, the aged doctor stood next to Sniper.

“What do you see?”

“Here,” Sniper handed the binoculars to Medic. “Just look.”

Medic held the binoculars up to his eyes.

Emus.

Two adults and a baby.

“Dromaius novaehollandiae!” Medic declared. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a baby! Usually, you only got to see the adults.”

“We’re lucky aren’t we?” Sniper chuckled. “Watch the baby.”

The small bird seemed excitable, running around. It would trip only to get back up. Every so often, it would run back to its parents and nudge them. Maybe the small thing wanted reassurance. Thankfully, the parents gave it to the baby, reaching down and nuzzling it. Medic thought it was beautiful. Maybe the warm weather was worth getting to see all these magnificent birds.

“Oi doc, check it out,” Sniper pointed. “There’s a cassowary.”

“Where?”

Sniper moved the binoculars so the doctor could see it. Sure enough, a large cassowary was strutting about.

“Ah, Casuarius casuarius! She’s beautiful!”

“Look, her babies.” Sniper pointed.

Behind the mother cassowary, four babies followed after her. The mother looked back to make sure her babies were still behind her before heading off. Medic couldn’t believe their luck! They had seen a full grown cassowary with her young! Too bad he couldn’t take a picture. Sniper didn’t want to spook the birds and Medic begrudgingly agreed. While he wished he could remember this trip, he didn’t want to scare the poor darlings.

Medic never thought he would find another avid bird lover and he especially didn’t think he’d find one in Teufort. But to his surprise, he found a kindred spirit in Sniper. Medic’s doves were somewhat finicky and wouldn’t really let anyone but Medic hold them. So he was shocked when he found Sniper in the med bay with Archimedes on his shoulder. Archimedes didn’t nip at Sniper. No, the dove was, in fact, rubbing against Sniper’s face, cooing happily. After that, the two of them were constantly chatting about birds.

“Now Doc, if you think this is amazing, I got something you’re going to love. Follow me.”

Medic was a bit curious to see what Sniper had planned. The two of them headed towards a grassy area. As they got closer, Medic was amazed to see a large ostrich walking towards them. It was massive and this was the closest Medic had ever been to one. Sniper reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of seeds. The ostrich walked over to Sniper, interested in the seeds.

“I know, I know. Be patient October,” Sniper opened up the bag. “C’mere Doc, open up your hand.”

Medic did what he was told and Sniper poured some seeds into his hand. October eyed the seeds before pecking at them.

“I’ve never been this close to a real, live ostrich before!” Medic said softly.

“Meet October,” Sniper said. “A while back, a veterinary friend of mine and I found her. Her leg was messed up. We figured her mother abandoned her, so we took her back to his clinic. Once she was all right, we released her back into the wild. But she’s still my buddy, aren’t you October?”

Sniper reached over to pet the large bird. October leaned into his hand, closing her eyes. Medic was enthralled.

“Oh, how I wish we could take a picture with her! The others won’t believe me when I tell then I got to feed a real, live ostrich!”

“Lucky for you, October isn't camera shy,” Sniper reached into a pocket. “I managed to snag a disposable camera just for her.”

Upon seeing the camera, the October stretched out her neck as if she was posing.

“Oh, she likes to pose too!” Medic chuckled.

“We better hurry. We got a whole roll of film to use.” Sniper said.

So Medic had a grand time taking pictures with October the Ostrich. Sniper did most of the picture taking while Medic posed with October. She finished off all the seeds Sniper had brought for her and when those were gone, she was content with head scratches. Medic could have stayed out there all day but as the sun began to, set, Sniper suggested it was time to head back.

“We can visit her tomorrow if you’d like,” Sniper said with a grin.

“I’d like that,” Medic patted October on the head. “Be good October. We’ll visit tomorrow.”

He gave her one last pat on the head before following Sniper back to his van.

“This really has been a wonderful trip so far,” Medic said, almost giddy. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“No problem mate. It’s better having someone here than being alone,” Sniper opened up his camper. “I’m heading to bed. Goodnight Medic.”

“Good night herr Sniper.”

After Sniper closed the door, Medic pulled up one of the fold out chairs and sat down in it. He decided to watch the sunset, wanting to enjoy the last few moments of a fantastic day.

 


End file.
